


Sincerely Yours

by HylianHeroine2



Category: Original Work
Genre: Best Friends, Character Death, Childhood Friends, Childhood Memories, College, Cussing, Eventual Romance, F/M, Family, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Guitars, Hurt/Comfort, Male-Female Friendship, Mentions of Sex, Misunderstandings, Music, Musicians, Original Character(s), Original Female Character(s) - Freeform, Original Male Character(s) - Freeform, Romance, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Slow Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-11
Updated: 2020-04-11
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:26:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,722
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23587606
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HylianHeroine2/pseuds/HylianHeroine2
Summary: Janet was all for staring a new life at Franklin State University, free from the past, her little Oklahoma town and the somewhat sad memories there. What she didn't expect was her childhood best friend, and former crush to show up, or for him to become a hunk.





	Sincerely Yours

**Author's Note:**

> This is just a fun little thing I decided to re-write.

Janet bounced on her toes for a moment in excitement before clearing her throat and calming herself down. She had completed her bachelor's degree in Tulsa and was now moving onto her dream University, her goals and dreams in sight. Her dorm was paid for, and classes started in a week, more than enough time to settle in, get her dorm all when she wanted it and possibly make new friends!

Most would be sad, afraid, or even a little nervous to move out to another state for college. Not Janet though, it was the chance to start fresh, a clean slate from her old life. 

She turned and hugged her big sister, Karina, who was nice enough to drive her all the way to California from their little Oklahoma town. 

“You sure you're going to like it here at Franklin State?” Karina asked again as she pulled away. “You can always change your mind.”

Janet brushed some of her brown hair from her eyes and pushed her glasses back up her nose. “I’m positive ‘Rina, besides, you moved out to Missouri for college!”

“That was 3 hours away, not 26!” She replied as she pulled her sister into a headlock. After ruffling her hair and picking her sister’s glasses up off the ground, Karina smiled. “Either way, you be safe out here, and don't hesitate to call me, I’ll fly or drive right out to kick some ass if I have to.” 

They hugged one last time and Janet promised to call her and their mother once she got all settled. 

She walked up the two flights of stairs up to her dorm and unlocked the door, she and Karina had spent hours getting all her furniture and things in, but it was worth it, she flopped onto a nearby bean bag chair and took a picture of herself to send to her mother to assure her that she was safe, and sound.

Once she got a text back and a reminder to write a thank you note to her grandparents for their graduation gift of the new furniture, she put on some music and set to unpacking and putting things away. 

About three hours later, the setting sun was flitting through her open window, she could hear people all running around outside on the courtyard below, people laughing and having a good time, saying goodbye to family and hello to friends. She got a text from her sister, now in Nevada for the night to check under the wool blanket that her mother had knitted for her for a surprise. 

Janet turned off her music and sat on the floor before pulling a box from under the blanket. Lifting the flaps she smiled at all the memories buried deep in the box. Apparently Karina and their mother had put together a memory box, just for her. 

It was mostly trinkets, old photos and other silly stuff she and her family had collected over the years that she had forgotten about. Down at the bottom, past the movie ticket stub box sat a tiny necklace with a glittery jewel on a silver chain.

She smiled softly and held it up. Her childhood best friend gave it to her, slipping it on, it used to sit at the top of her collar bone, now it fit more like a choker. Maybe she could get a bigger chain.

Her nostalgia and thoughts were broken when a football came flying through her window, smashing right into a lamp sitting on a side table. 

“What in the-” She started as she stood up and walked over to the window, she could see a man look up and go rushing into her dorm building. Stomping over to the now broken lamp, she picked up the ball. C.L.C was engraved on the side and looked pretty old and worn. 

A knock on the door turned her attention. She walked over and opened the door. There, stood a young man, about her age, maybe a year older with a sheepish grin on. His jet black hair hung in his face, and his pierced lip and ripped skinny jeans told her that he might be one of the “rebels” her sister warned her about. 

“Hey, I am so sorry, but I think my ball landed in your room.” Janet nodded. 

“Yes.” She replied dryly. “It broke my new lamp.” The man’s eyes grew wide and he bit his lip.

“Shit, really? I’m so sorry, here, I can help clean it up and even pay for it.” He dug in his back pocket and pulled out a wallet. 

Janet stepped to the side to allow him in and went to grab her broom. When she returned he was holding a bill in his hand.

“How much do I owe- hey!” He made her jump. “I know that necklace!”

Standing frozen Janet touched the tiny jewel around her neck. “I’m sorry, but you can't, I was given this when I was a kid.” 

He moved in closer. “No, that was mine, I gave it to my best friend.” He studied her face, making her feel a little nervous. “Janet Ryder?”

“Yes?” She answered. The man’s face lit up.

“It's me! Christopher!”

She raised an eyebrow. “I don't know a Christopher. “

He grinned. “Sure you do, Christopher Calhoun? We did everything together, we lived down on Sandusky together until I moved at the end of middle school.” She still stood looking unimpressed. He snapped his fingers. “Right, you called me by my middle name because there were three Christopher’s in Mrs. Belcham’s 3rd grade class. Lee.”

Her heart stopped and she inhaled sharply. This man was her best friend? The same one she had a huge crush on!? “What are you doing here?”

He laughed. “'I'm going to school here, same as you silly. I moved into my dorm with my roommate yesterday.” He grinned and pulled her into a spine crushing hug. “I’m so happy to see you again.” Janet blushed and squirmed in his grip until he let go. “What's the matter? You loved my hugs, said it was like hugging a bear.”

She smoothed out her clothes and pushed her glasses back up. “Le-Christopher, I’m not the same girl from back then, I...I barely feel like I know you.” 

His smile faltered as he realized what she meant. “Right, I’m sorry, I should have guessed. It's been...what? Five, six years? I should have asked if you were comfortable with it first.” He cleared his throat awkwardly before pressing the bill he was holding into her hand to pay for the lamp. “Well, it was nice to see you again. Hope to see you around.” He took his ball from her other hand and waved goodbye as he walked down the hall. 

Janet looked down and saw he pressed a fifty into her hand. She shook her head as she closed the door. A week passed, she occasionally saw Christopher but thankfully no one else that she knew or once knew in the dorms or campus. First day of class was upon her and she excitedly hurried to her first class, hoping to be early enough to pick a nice spot in the middle. 

As she sat and took out her books, she noticed only a few other students had the same idea she did. Looking behind her she saw a bespectacled boy, sandy blond hair, a lip ring in his lip too, unlike Christopher’s though, it was through his bottom lip. He looked up and smiled, she returned it, though it became apparent with a shout that it wasn't aimed at her.

“Yo, Mark!” Another male voice. Janet turned back to see two more boys, she grimaced as she noticed Christopher was one of them. They all sat behind her, she kept her head down so he wouldn't notice her. 

“Damn this class is huge. Bigger than our last concert venue for sure.” This boy had black hair too, though a deep red streak was dyed into it, studded bracelets clanked as he ran his hands over the tables. “I’m going to enjoy drawing shit on this. Think we should sign our names?”

Christopher laughed. “Blake, you really must enjoy seeing Dean Quinn, don't you?” 

“How else do you think he met-” Janet tuned them out finally as they got into a more raunchy conversation. Hearing them talk about wild nights of drinking and illegal substances made her heart sink. Christopher was a sweet boy who swore to never smoke, do drugs or drink before they were twenty one.

Now he had a lip piercing, played in a metal band and hung around some sketchy people. She touched the tiny jewel around her neck, it was his parting gift after his father got a job in California, a promise that they would see each other again. She really wished it hadn't been under these circumstances though. He changed so much. And not for the better.

Her thoughts were broken when Christopher leaned forward and tapped her on the shoulder. “Hey Janet!” 

“Yes?” She turned her head slightly.

“Whoa, Ice Queen.” Blake curled his lip into a smug grin. She glared at him.

“No, she is not an ice Queen.” Christopher said. “This is the childhood friend I told you guys about, when I first moved. We grew up on the same street, hung out all the time, and went to school together.” 

“I guess she turned into a bitch without your cock to satisfy her any more.” Blake and Mark laughed Janet felt her nostrils flare as she recoiled in disgust. She stood quickly and gathered her things to move seats. 

“You might want to train your dog better.” She said to Christopher as she walked away. “With how he acts, people might think he has the mange.” 

“Oohh, roasted!” Mark howled as Blake turned a shade of red not far from his hair streak. She could have sworn she saw a smile on Christopher’s lip as she flounced off and took a different seat, closer to the front. The bell rang shortly after she sat so they couldn't follow her. 

Maybe it was best that he moved and they grew apart. She didn't want to be around him if this was how he was going to turn out to be. 

Her other three classes for her Monday, Wednesday, and Friday rotation went well enough. No sign of Christopher or anyone from his group. Hopefully she could get the chance to talk to the Dean and transfer out of her morning class once she explained the situation. Franklin State had no tolerance for bullying.

She walked along the hall out of the main building to her dorms when someone grabbed her arm. 

“Hey, sorry for grabbing you!” A young woman with a two toned wig, one half power blue and the other bubble gum pink, much like a popular pop star grinned at her before showing her a flyer. “Come down to the college get together at the end of the week. The university throws this huge party at the start of each year to welcome new and returning students, you should go!” She let go of Janet finally to go chase another student down. 

Looking down at the flyer, she could see different bubbles for prizes, food, games and a live band. Well, the best way to make new friends was to go. 

The man at the entrance stamped her hand once she showed her student ID before letting her past and into the venue. Looking around she saw a lot of student run booths for different games and a lot of clubs trying to bring in more people to their group. Maybe she could join a club, not that she was really able do anything noteworthy. Christopher had always been the more artsy of them both, he loved his guitar and writing music. She briefly wondered if he had done anything with it, as she reached the food counter she reached for a soda bottle just as someone else was. It was the girl with the two toned hair, though now Jsnet could see that it was her actual hair, just dyed. 

“Oh, I’m sorry.” She said. “I see you made it!” She grabbed the bottle and handed it to Janet. “My name is Stella, Stella Quinn.” 

“Janet Ryder.” They shook hands. She pointed to the banner hanging above the stage where the DJ played. “If you don't mind me asking, who is Rival Bands?”

“Oh, my boyfriend plays in the band.” She grinned. “Since he and his friends formed last year, they have gotten so popular.” 

“Awesome, did they get asked to play since they're popular?” 

“Not...exactly.” Stella chuckled with a sheepish grin. “My dad is the Dean and I asked him if they could play since they would only want to be paid in food.” 

“Sounds like a bunch of boys.” Janet laughed. She looked around to the hundreds of students, all mingling, lost in their own cliques. “Hey, do you mind if I hang with you? I just moved out here and don't know anyone yet.”

Stella almost seemed to vibrate with excitement before jumping up cheerfully. “Of course! Come on, if you need friends, me and the girls are the ones for you!” She yanked Janet with her to where some other girls were all sitting at a table, eating and chatting. Janet recognized at least one of them from her Advanced Algebra class. “Ladies! This is Janet!”

The girls all stood to greet her. The girl from her class grabbed her hand and took a picture of her nails. 

“Oh my gosh, you have the cutest nail art, did you do them yourself?”

“Uuh, no, my sister is a Cosmetologist, she did it for me shortly before I came here.” 

Another girl gently started playing with her hair draped around her shoulders. “Such a bright aura surrounds you; you must have a lot of loved ones...a lover even?” 

Janet shook her head. “No? At least not one that I am aware of.” 

“Your necklace is so cute!” 

“I love your glasses, so chic!”

“A long time crush perhaps?” 

“Girls!” Stella laughed. “At least buy a girl a drink first before you invade her personal space!” The others backed off and smiled. 

“Sorry, we just get so excited to have a new friend.” The girl with long blonde hair stuck out her hand. “My name is Harmony Rivera.” Harmony had stars everywhere on her person; necklace, earrings, star shaped rings on five of her fingers and even a star tattoo on her upper stomach, which was showing under the crop top she had on. 

“I’m Kassandra Holiday.” This was the girl that commented on her aura. Her jet black hair was pulled back into a ponytail and her ice blue eyes seemed to stare into her soul. A couple of teardrops tattooed on her face made Janet freeze for a moment before she saw that they watered a larger sunflower on her neck. Her left hand and arm were covered in Henna art. Love and other flowers were tattooed on her arms.

“I’m Faith Knox.” This was the girl from her class and the one that commented on her nails and glasses. From what she gathered from class, Faith loved all things fashion but had a deeper love of math and statistics. Her cut off denim shorts and off the shoulder blue shirt fit her body perfectly, and her red hair and hazel eyes complimented her looks.

“Ava Stone.” The last girl in the group said in the back. She was the only one who didn't stand to greet her but not to be rude, to give her the space that the others didn't seem to know existed. 

Janet sat with them and chatted as they ate. Stella, as she stated, was the Dean’s daughter and knew the school like the back of her hand. When she wasn't in class or at home, as she didn’t live on campus, most of the time she was fooling around with her boyfriend or rounding the girls up for surf and sun. Her major was in Psychology

Harmony was the middle child of her family, and grew up having a huge sense of togetherness and love. She and her family had family runions almost every weekend and each break, she would go visit her abuela and abuelo in Mexico. Her major was Human Services. 

Kassandra was into chakras and spirituality. Stella leaned in close as Kassandra drifted out of conversation, right in the middle of her sentence to say that and her family believed that she was the Princess of Troy from legend. When it came to fortune telling she was a pro at it and even gave Janet her prediction. Much l;ike the real Princess, Janet didn't quite believe her when she said she would marry a man with a forest for eyes and have three kids. She didn't even want any children and she couldn't recall a guy she liked with forests for eyes. Her major, when finally worked out of her, was Natural resources and conservation. 

Faith was the oldest of her siblings and was always helping her mother care for her three siblings since her father was always on business trips and meetings. She loved fashion but didn't want to make a career out of it, in reality, she wanted to be someone who did stocks and ran a business. Still, she had hundreds of photos of cute fashion ideas and people she thought oozed confidence. Her major was mathematics and statistics. 

Finally was Ava. She looked quite different from the rest of the group, most in her short black hair, dark eyes and multitude of piercings, including three ear piercings in each ear, an eyebrow ring and a septum. She said her nipples were pierced too but thought it best not to show them off. The giant snake tattooed on her neck was actually wrapped around her neck and shoulders. Her major was journalism. 

Janet told them all how she was from a little town in Oklahoma, her father died when she was in her freshman year of high school and she came to school to start a nursing career. They all got up and went to play games, though Ava pulled her back for a moment. 

“Hey, I just wanted to let you know...the punk guy in your Monday morning class? That's my older brother, Blake.” 

Janet froze in fear. Was she mad at what she said to Blake?

“Thanks for putting him in his place earlier this week. It's not often that he muses on an insult for so long trying to come up with an insult that doesn't involve cursing.” She laughed. “You could almost see the smoke coming from his ears when he came home.” 

“Oh, for a second I thought you were mad at me.” 

Ava shook her head. “Nah, my big brother is a dick, how in the world-” She was cut off by Stella shouting at them to hurry up. For a few hours they all played games, Janet even winning a giant teddy bear. The man at the counter told her she could pick it up at the end of the night so she didn't need to carry it everywhere.

When the DJ announced that the band was going to play soon, they all went to the stage, Stella leading them up to the front. Janet felt her jaw drop, she didn't know the band consisted of Christopher and his friends! Stella screamed and jumped up and down in excitement as they got to center stage. 

Christopher waved to the crowd and slung his guitar over his shoulders. Mark took the drums, and Blake took the bass. For an hour, they played, and she had to admit, they were good. Her mother had always said Christopher had the voice of an angel and he obviously took his musical talents seriously. The last song he played, he looked down at her, though really, it was really Stella he had to be looking at, considering she was standing in front of her. He strummed his guitar and played the most beautiful love song she had ever heard, at the end, Stella had started to climb the stage and ran to him. She looked away, not wanting to see them kiss. 

“Come on Stells, don't suffocate him.” Christopher laughed. Janet looked up and saw that it was Blake that Stella was kissing; she couldn't help being a bit relieved that Christopher wasn't taken. They all exited the stage and Stella dragged Blake over. 

“Blakey, this is my new friend, Janet!”

“Yeah, the chick with the insults.” He grumbled out. Mark sniggered behind him as Chrsitpher only shook his head. 

“Well, now that you all are done playing, how about we go play some more games?” Faith started, trying to break the awkward silence. 

“You guys can.” Janet started. “I have to call my mother early in the morning. I should be going to bed.” 

“Tell her I said hi.” Christopher said. Janet only gave him a hard stare and turned to leave, making sure to collect her new stuffed friend. Weeks had passed since that night, and the girls all hounded her, trying to get information about how Janet knew Christopher. 

Janet told them that they were childhood friends but drifted apart, and that seemed to pacify them for the most part. She in turn, learned that Stella, Blake and Christopher had all gone to the same high school and had become friends there. Christopher was the one to convince Stella to give Blake a chance and they had been a couple ever since prom night. 

“You know Janet.” Stella said as she leaned into her parents couch. “He brought you up a lot, and just somehow I knew it was you when I met you, you look exactly as he described.” 

Janet shrugged. “I’m sure he did, but as I said, we drifted apart.” 

“Did you ever have a crush on him?”

“No.” She answered quickly. “He was just a friend.” She looked up slightly. “Why?”

“No reason.” Stella replied with a smile. “Just wanted to know.” 


End file.
